WWE Raw: Recap July 20, 2015

S2015 episode WWE Raw

It was always too good to be true for Brock Lesnar that The Undertaker would simply return to the void without properly repaying The Beast for ending his undefeated Streak at WrestleMania 30. And at WWE Battleground, Lesnar’s chickens came home to roost when The Phenom cost him the WWE World Heavyweight Title. So why did The Deadman do it? In his first turn on the microphone in more than a year, The Phenom allowed that the snapping of his Streak was inevitable. But with Paul Heyman’s relentless gloating and disrespect of Undertaker’s quarter-century life’s work, The Last Outlaw rode again to cost The Conqueror his own holy grail. That set himself and The Beast, 469 days after the end of The Streak, on a collision course that he promised would end with Lesnar, as all men must do, resting in peace.

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Recap July 20

S2015 episode WWE Raw Aired on July 20, 2015

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It was always too good to be true for Brock Lesnar that The Undertaker would simply return to the void without properly repaying The Beast for ending his undefeated Streak at WrestleMania 30. And at WWE Battleground, Lesnar’s chickens came home to roost when The Phenom cost him the WWE World Heavyweight Title. So why did The Deadman do it? In his first turn on the microphone in more than a year, The Phenom allowed that the snapping of his Streak was inevitable. But with Paul Heyman’s relentless gloating and disrespect of Undertaker’s quarter-century life’s work, The Last Outlaw rode again to cost The Conqueror his own holy grail. That set himself and The Beast, 469 days after the end of The Streak, on a collision course that he promised would end with Lesnar, as all men must do, resting in peace.

She’s the Diva so nice, she beat Brie Bella twice. Charlotte was the first of the new faces of the transformed Divas division to make a statement at WWE Battleground, submitting Brie Bella in an impromptu Divas Triple Threat that also included Sasha Banks. The Bella Twins’ title-less half demanded a rematch on Raw and despite the in-ring absence of The Boss to complicate matters, Ric Flair’s stylin’ and profilin’ progeny got the job done again.

Granted, Sasha and her fellow Team B.A.D. (Beautiful and Dangerous) cohorts Naomi and Tamina were on commentary, but that gave them a front-row seat to Charlotte’s come-from-behind victory over Brie, who channeled her husband’s kicks to put Charlotte on her heels. A comeback from Charlotte brought Nikki onto the apron, but the self-proclaimed genetically superior Diva booted the champion off the apron and applied the Figure-Eight once again.

¡Olé! Los Matadores have resurfaced, throwing their hats once again into the ring for Tag Team Title contention by knocking off reigning titleholders The Prime Time Players one night after PTP successfully fended off The New Day to retain their hardware. Granted, The New Day had a sizable hand in Diego y Fernando’s non-title upset of the champions. Even though Los Matadores were running roughshod over Darren Young, it was only when Mr. No Days Off reached Titus O’Neil on the apron that the tide turned in Prime Time’s favor. That was when New Day made their entrance, distracting The Big Deal and allowing Diego to hit the Backstabber for the win.

And it wasn’t even close. Nor was it a “match” in the sense of offense traded and momentum shifted. In a beating that was foisted upon The Miz for his indignant response to his own comeuppance last night, Big Show simply stomped to the ring, beat Miz up for a bit and rendered him into 2D with a second-rope flying elbow. Once that was done, the giant took hold of the mic and sent a message to Ryback, who’s still recuperating with Intercontinental Title in hand, that their issues are far from settled. But his first stop? A stop at the barracks of WWE Tough Enough. Protect ZZ at all costs.

With Brock Lesnar barred from the building and Paul Heyman standing in the middle of the ring, it was all but a certainty that The Undertaker would target the advocate in an attempt to send a message to “The One in 22-1.” It turns out that was just what The Beast was waiting for. After Heyman lured The Last Outlaw into the open with some particularly damning rhetoric, Lesnar made his move. His intrusion instigated a brawl with The Deadman that took a squadron of security guards, the entire WWE locker room and, ultimately, police reinforcement and a pair of zip ties on The Conqueror’s wrists, to separate.

UPDATE: WWE.com has confirmed that, while Lesnar was taken into custody after instigating the fight with The Undertaker, all charges were dropped and he was ultimately released.

Bray Wyatt had to pull his family back together to ensure victory over personal plaything Roman Reigns at WWE Battleground, recruiting Luke Harper back into the fold in the deciding moments of the match. He didn’t account for The Big Dog having a brother of his own waiting in the wings, though. That’d be Dean Ambrose, who has no love lost for Wyatt (or Harper, for that matter), and acted as a ringside equalizer to The New Face of Fear during Reigns’ showdown with Harper.

Good thing, too, because Harper had taken The Big Dog to the woodshed, brutalizing Reigns’ arm for an extended stretch before Reigns roared back into the advantage and Wyatt broke the match up, leading to a disqualification ending. With two-thirds of The Shield and The Wyatt Family in proximity, a bench-clearing brawl ensued that ended, at least for now, with Ambrose and Reigns beating the Wyatts back by the skin of their teeth.

Thanks to the next best thing to the devil himself, Seth Rollins is still WWE World Heavyweight Champion. But John Cena wasn’t buying The Architect’s version of a victory tour out of Suplex City. As Rollins forced Lilian Garcia to belatedly announce his continued tenure as titleholder, the Cenation leader and United States Champion made his presence known, laying down what amounted to a challenge for a fight. “The Undisputed Future” wasn’t too interested, though. It’s unlikely these two have butted heads for the last time just yet.

Sasha Banks isn’t just The Boss. She’s so B.A.D., she’s good. The NXT Women’s Champion got shown up by Charlotte at WWE Battleground, but Team B.A.D.’s resident titleholder got hers on Raw, earning her own stripes with a victory during a tag team match that bookended the transformed Divas division’s renewed presence on Raw.

And despite all their insistences they still run the roost, Team Bella was on commentary to witness the contest, which featured heavy doses of Sasha and Becky mixing it up, NXT style, with Naomi and Paige dropping in to add to the chaos. Things hit a fever pitch when Sasha stormed the ring to save Naomi from the PTO, and in the instigating confusion, tagged back in to apply the Bank Statement to a wounded Paige. It's a fate that may well await The Bellas when they face Sasha & Naomi on SmackDown. #Legit.

With six of WWE’s hardest-hitting Superstars in the ring at once, who’d have thought a Diva with a grudge wouls decide the fate of Raw’s main-event slugfest. It wasn’t an Attitude Adjustment, an RKO or a Neutralizer that carried John Cena, Randy Orton & Cesaro to victory over Kevin Owens, Rusev & Sheamus, but instead a shoe to the chest from Lana to Summer Rae.

Before that, however, the fan favorites were reeling until a miscommunication between Sheamus and Owens led the Irishman to walk out, and Owens followed suit after kicking a belligerent Rusev in the face. That left The Bulgarian Brute alone to fend off The Viper, but just as Rusev escaped the RKO, Lana arrived looking for retribution against Summer Rae, who'd slapped her earlier in the night. First came the shoe, then The Ravishing Russian pounced, leaving Rusev dumbfounded. When the action resumed, Cena was waiting with an AA, Cesaro followed up with the Cesaro Swing and, finally, slingshot Rusev straight into Orton’s jaws for an RKO. Crushed it.